


One Step Closer

by AxisMage



Series: The Omegaverse Trip [6]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics), Superman - All Media Types, Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Bruce is panicking, Clark and Conner are utter sweethearts, Conner wants to be a good dad, Family Dynamics, Family Fluff, M/M, Mpreg, Omega Verse, Team as Family, The Supes family is made up of real life marshmallows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2018-09-29
Packaged: 2019-07-18 20:19:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16125989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AxisMage/pseuds/AxisMage
Summary: As Dick´s pregnancy starts coming to and end, Conner starts worrying about what being a good mate and father means. Hal and his talks don´t really help. Bruce is hiding something and just Ma Kent´s name is enough to get everyone´s attention





	One Step Closer

**Author's Note:**

> And I´m finally back with the next part of this series! There really isn´t much to say except... well, I´m really, really, really sorry for taking so long with the update, but I´m still here with my superwing because I love these two so darn much and I really want them to be happy and to continue to explore their journey as Dick and Conner´s babies come and after they do
> 
> So, Imma shut up now XD, I hope you enjoy it!

Conner is trying to find a job when Clark drops by. He hears the swish of the cape somewhere above the building, the soft sound of boots hitting the roof, then the sound of someone coming down the emergency stairs, and soon enough, the window in the living room slides open, and Clark´s voice rings out. “Dick? Conner? Is there anyone home? May I come in?”

“Come on in,” Conner replies in a distracted tone. His eyes keep flicking over the newspaper pages he has in front of him, something he´s been doing the last couple of hours for the past week or so.

“Are you busy?” There´s the sound of the window sliding closed, and then Conner hears Clark´s boots land on the carpet, hears the swish of the cape as he makes his way to where Conner is sitting on the floor with all the papers spread out over the coffee table and the floor. “Oh. I guess you are.”

“Not as much as you´d think.” Conner circles one of the little boxes in front of his current page with the bright yellow highlighter Dick had given him many years ago, when they still went to high school. Conner marveled at the fact it still worked. He capped the highlighter, looked up in time to see Clark sit down across from him, looking curious. “Is something wrong?”

Clark grabs one of the newspapers, begins eyeing it. “No. I´m here to deliver some messages.”

“From who?”

“One from the Justice League, the other from Ma.”

Conner stiffens right away. “Is she okay?”

Clarks looks surprised at his quick answer. He raises his head as if to stop Conner. “Oh, yes! Yeah, she´s okay. The carrots are ready for pickup, she complained about her back pain when she picks up a carrot too many, but other than that, she says she´s fine.”

 “She still won´t hire people to help her pick up the crops?”

“She has hired several helpers. Or, rather than hired, she has finally let the people Bruce sent to help her do the job. I think maybe the poor guys are too slow for Ma and that´s why she ends up doing part of the work herself.”

Conner gives a lopsided smile. “Wouldn’t expect Ma to do less.”

“Me either,” Clark says with a laugh. “But like I said, that´s not why I´m here.”

“Then why?”

“When was the last time you guys talked?”

Conner blinks, then frowns. He starts tapping his highlighter against the coffee table as he tries to remember. After a couple of minutes, he shakes his head. “Six months ago, I think?”

“Ten,” Clark corrects, and when Conner raises both eyebrows, he laughs again. “She has the date of your last phone call written in her pad by the phone, you know? She was quite upset you hadn’t called since then, especially because of the big news.”

Conner blinks again, tries to think about what has happened in the past ten months. Big news? The world hasn’t ended, there were some very dangerous missions, but they all turned out all right, and since Dick had hung up the suit his own life as a superhero had been sort of put off to one side…

Oh.

The realization must show pretty easily on his face given Clark nods. “Yeah, those big news.”

“She didn’t know?”

“Didn’t you tell her?”

“Didn’t _you_ tell her?”

Clark looks offended. “Why would I?”

Conner gives him a look. “Why wouldn’t you? You´re not good at keeping secrets.”

“But Dick´s pregnancy wasn’t something _I_ could tell her about. It was Dick´s and your bomb to drop… well, until today. I told her because I thought she already knew. I thought you or Dick had at least given her a call about it.”

Conner frowns, keeps tapping his highlighter against the table. He knew he hadn’t told Ma about Dick´s pregnancy, mostly because he had really believed Clark would babble the news without any prodding, but also because – if he was honest – he hadn’t paid a lot of attention to most things for the past seven months. Since the night Dick told him he was pregnant, Conner had sort of tuned out several things to focus only on his mate and their babies, so he knew for sure he hadn’t said anything. Though if Ma hadn’t known, it meant Dick hadn’t told her either, and despite not knowing each other in person, Dick and Ma did love to chat on the phone every once in a while.

“Was she mad?” Conner asks as his frown deepens, and he feels a pang of guilt hit him.

“Not really. She was a bit annoyed, hurt too of course, and she said she was going to pull on your ears when you and Dick went to visit next week.”

Conner blinks a third time. “Next week?” he repeats.

Clark ducks his head, nods.

Conner´s mouth drops. “… What did you do?”

“Nothing! I didn’t do anything that didn’t need to be done!”

“Clark.”

“She was upset, and I didn’t want her to be upset, knew you wouldn’t want her to be upset, and she said you two should visit at least once before the babies came and I just… told her you´d be there next week because things were calm and… and she´d say she´d call the neighbors when she got off the phone with me.”

Conner drops his highlighter. “She´s not going to throw a little party or anything, is she?”

“Uh…”

“ _Clark._ ”

“But on the bright side,” Clark adds quickly, “It´ll only be the neighbors, and I told her… well, I told her Bruce and I would go visit too.”

Conner stays quiet for a couple of minutes, tries to wrap his head around what Clark just said. He ends up groaning, shaking his head. “Have you told Mr. Way… uh, Bruce, yet? Should I…?” Conner tilts his head back, scrunches up his nose. “What does Cassie say when Bart forgets to do his homework and Jaime finds out… Oh. Should I arrange your funeral?”

“What? No, no funerals! And not yet, but I will, and I won´t bail on you and Dick, Conner. We´ll only be there for a couple of days, three at the most. I know we can´t stay long, no matter how much Ma would like us to.”

Conner sighs, then shakes his head again. He picks up his highlighter and throws it at Clark, who catches it with ease and throws it back.

“Fine, I´ll tell Dick.”

“Do you think he´ll be upset?”

“No, he´s probably going to be alarmed and freak out over what to take with us to the farm as a gift, and he´ll probably try and learn how to wash his own clothes so Ma won´t pull on his ears, but he won´t be mad.”

Clark nods, lets out a relieved breath. “Sorry for dropping by like this all of a sudden.”

Conner shrugs. “It´s okay, but you said you had a message to deliver from the League too. What is it?”

Clark visibly brightens at that, and he grins, seems to almost bounce where he sits. “Oh yeah, the other message. Can you and Dick make it to the Watchtower around five? We´ll be holding a very important meeting, and we need you and Dick up there.”

And that alone doesn´t sit quite right with Conner. A Justice League meeting? Unless it had something to do with the team, Dick, Megan and him didn’t usually attend any of the League´s meetings, and if it involved the team, the senior members would know beforehand. Also, Clark looking more than happy to attend a meeting? Suspicious.

“Meeting,” Conner says after analyzing the situation for several heartbeats. “Watchtower. At five. With Dick. We´ll be there.”

Clark grins, and just like that Conner knows they won´t be attending a meeting. He doesn’t worry about it though, if Clark smiles like that, it can´t be anything even remotely bad.

“See you two there, then.” Clark pushes to his feet, then looks down at the newspapers spread in front of him and sits back down. “Are you looking for a new place? I can help! Though I´d suggest you look in some of the real estate magazines rather than the classified pages, you know, to find a safer and better place.”

Conner frowns, then shakes his head. “I´m not looking for a new place,” he says.

“Then what are you looking for?”

“A job.”

That answer seems to take Clark off-guard, and his eyes widen, and he looks back down at the pages, picks up one of them and skims over it, then looks at Conner. “A job,” he repeats. “You´re trying to find yourself a job.”

Conner nods.

“What… how… what happened? You´ve never been interested to stuff like that, it was hard enough to get you to go to high school from what Bruce told me.” Clark blinks, then ducks his head. “I promise I´m not trying to be rude or anything, but I´ll admit to being surprised. Has something happened?”

Conner isn’t quite sure how to answer that. Has something happened? Not really, it´s more like he´s finally _doing_ something, and maybe said will to do something has a bit to do with Dick coming home a few days ago with a bag full of groceries muttering something about Bruce´s influence being everywhere and people asking the most inappropriate of questions as to whose babies he was carrying and why was Bruce Wayne paying for his food. When Conner asked what had happened, Dick had huffed about forgetting his own credit card at home, not having enough cash and paying with the platinum card Bruce insisted Dick have in case of emergencies.

Conner hadn’t quite understood why Dick was upset until Dick himself came to sit next to him on the couch, cuddled up to his side and muttered some more about wanting to carry more cash next time or wish they had more at home so he didn’t have to use Bruce´s dumb card, and that´s when it hit Conner. Despite their really good and solid relationship, Dick didn’t like people treating him as one of Bruce´s charity projects or properties, which was exactly what had happened when Dick used the card that was, as expected, to Bruce´s name.

So Conner had decided he´d make sure Dick didn’t have to go through stuff like that again, and the best way to make that happen was to get a job, earn his own money and help his mate, his children too when they were born.

“I want to be a good mate,” he says finally, and shrugs. “I want to be someone Dick can lean on financially, and I want to take some weight off his back since we´re in the last trimester. I really don´t want him to worry about money or using Bruce´s when the babies are born. Do you think I´ll be able to find a decent job by then?”

Clark stares at him in silent surprise for a few seconds, then he smiles and leans forward to pat him on the shoulder. “I´m sure you will, and if you don´t, you can always count on me to help you out.”

“But the point is me helping Dick out.”

“But sometimes the people who help need help, and really Conner, if you ever need anything, talk to me, okay?”

Conner gives him wide eyes, the nods.

Clark smiles and picks up the newspaper pages. “Do you have another highlighter? Let´s see what we can find for you, although I can ask my boss if there are any available jobs at the Daily Planet too.”

Conner´s eyes widen even more. “Would you do that?” _For me?_

Clark laughed. “Didn’t I just say I´d help you out with whatever I could? Although I don´t think you´re much of a journalist… or an editor. I think Lois can use a photographer too. Would you be interested in that?”

Would he? He doesn’t know. Sure, he has been photographing Dick´s pregnancy since the day Dick brought home the really professional-looking camera, and sure, everyone at the Cave has said that his pictures have gone better, but to be a photographer for a journalist… he´s not so sure about that. Besides, doesn’t he need formal education for that?

“I think I´d like to try,” he says slowly. “But aren’t people who apply for jobs supposed to be experienced and come from really high and well-known places beforehand and school? Photographers are supposed to have a portfolio too, right?”

Clark looks thoughtful. “Do you… happen to have something resembling a portfolio or a résumé?”

“I only have the pictures I´ve taken of Dick after our first doctor appointment together, and some of the Team… and several of Wolf and a couple of the view from the window.”

Clark smiled. “I think that will do. Let´s clean up all this and get going.”

 

* * *

 

 

When Conner comes back to Dick´s apartment an hour and a half later, he´s bouncing the camera between his hands and trying to decide whether he should smile or frown. The very impromptu meeting Conner had had with Clark´s boss had gone… relatively well, if ending up on the mail department at the Daily Planet could be called relatively well. It hadn’t taken long for Conner to get fed up with Perry White and realize he couldn’t work directly for someone like him, or Cat Grant for that matter. Lois wasn’t as bad, Conner actually ended up liking her and Jimmy, but it became pretty clear pretty quick that if Conner were to work in the Daily Planet, it´d have to be in another department.

Given his lack of experience, curriculum, formality and the fact that Conner had appeared out of nowhere and everyone had to take Clark vouching for him at face value, he considered himself lucky to have gotten the job in the mail department so fast. While it wasn’t what he had in mind when circling boxes with his highlighter, he wasn’t going to complain. The money wasn’t a lot, but it was a start, a good one, all in all.

Conner decides he´ll smile, so he takes a deep breath and does just that as he opens the door of Dick´s apartment. He hopes Dick is already home, it´s a couple minutes till five by now and Clark had said he and Dick needed to be on the Watchtower soon, it was really, really, really important for both of them to be on time, emphasis on important, both of them, and on time.

Conner sighs as he steps through the door, is greeted right away by arms around his neck, a warm and round body pressing against his and his favorite scent in the world filling his nostrils.

“You´re home,” Conner says with the barest of chuckles, wrapping his arms around Dick carefully as to not put any pressure on his very round belly, tilting his head downward to press their lips together.

“I got home like ten minutes ago,” Dick informs him, breaking the kiss and pressing his lips to Conner´s chin instead. “There were too many patients at the clinic, I was the second to last appointment of the afternoon, that´s why I took so long.”

“Did you get bored?”

“Not at all. There was another male omega there, twelve weeks pregnant, and a lot of female omegas. It was his first child, but not theirs, so you could say the guy and I got parenting classes all the while.”

“Oh.” That does sound like something Dick would enjoy and Conner would need, books and the internet weren’t as good as real classes with experts, were they? He makes a mental note to look up parenting classes and see if they´re still on time to attend them, then blinks at Dick. “How did it go? Is everything all right? The babies? You? Remind me again why you didn’t let me go with you?”

Dick laughs and bites his chin softly, takes one of Conner´s hand and places it on his belly, holds it there.

“Can you imagine, guys?” he says. “Can you imagine daddy down at the clinic with us? He would have gotten so bored so quick, don’t you think?”

And as if on cue, one of the babies kicks right where Conner´s hand is. His eyes widen, and Dick laughs, leans in for a kiss again. “Although, I must admit they are as impatient as you, halfway into our parenting class they began kicking like never before. I asked Dr. North, but he said it was okay, it was normal, and I brought another sonogram! Do you want to see?”

“Of course,” Conner says with a frown, and Dick pulls away with a laugh, goes to pull something out from the backpack he´d taken to the appointment. “I saw your note, by the way. Where did you and Clark go?”

“To find me a job.”

“A job?”

“Yes,” Conner nods. “And I got one. Clark thought maybe I could work in the Daily Planet as a photographer, but that wasn´t the job for me, so the editor-in-chief assigned me to the mail department.” He shrugs. “It wasn’t what I had in mind but the pay is actually good and I can get to work and be back home in less than five minutes with the Zeta-tube.”

“A job?” Dick asks again as he walks back to where Conner is and hands the sonogram over. “Is that why you were buying all those newspapers and asking me where your highlighters were? Were you looking for a job?”

Conner nods.

Dick raises a hand and cups his cheek against his palm. “If this is about the tantrum I threw the other day…”

“It´s not. Well, it is in a way, but please don´t tell me to drop the job or to not worry about what you said and how you felt. Dick, we´re mates, we´re going to be a family soon, and I want to be able to be a real partner to you, someone you can lean on no matter what, for whatever you need, and that includes money. I´m sorry I didn’t think about this before.”

Dick looks at him in endeared silence for minute, then rubs his thumb against Conner´s cheek, the corner of his lip. “You already are a real partner to me, Conner, never think otherwise. This is really sweet of you and I appreciate it so much, but you and I have been partners, mates, since you first tackled me back when I was fifteen and told me I smelled different and rubbed your cheek against my neck.”

Conner feels a light blush creep up his cheeks. “I know I was kind of aggressive back then.”

“You were wild, and I loved it back then, I love it now and I always will,” Dick says amused. “But I´m getting off track here. Point is, you already are my partner, don´t think otherwise, okay?”

Conner frowns. Eventually, he nods.

“Good. Now look at how big our babies are! They´re so close, Conner, I can´t wait anymore, the doctor says they´ll be here in three weeks, maybe a month!”

That does get Conner´s full attention, and he looks down at the sonogram Dick handed him, feels his heart seize, his breathing stop as he sees his babies, and he can see them now better than ever, clearer than ever. He sees their little heads, their little bodies, he sees their teeny tiny hands. During the last sonogram Dick had brought home, he hadn´t been able to fully see their arms, but now he does, and… there they are, more solid and real than before…

“They´re gorgeous,” he breathes, and trails his finger down the fuzzy images. “They… look so big already, and they… are they…?”

“Facing each other? Yes! Aren´t they the cutest?” Dick is almost bouncing in place, seems to be holding back for…

“Come here,” Conner says with a lopsided smile, and he has barely held his arms out before Dick is between them, laughing and hugging him right back, hiding his nose against his neck and breathing in deep.

“They´re gorgeous,” Conner mumbles again.

“They are,” Dick agrees with a chuckle. “Conner, our babies will be here soon, isn’t that great?”

“It is,” Conner says, leans back and kisses the tip of Dick´s nose. “And we have to be somewhere very soon as well.”

“Hmm? Are we going out?”

“Clark was very vocal about the meeting the League was having today at five and how you and I needed to be there.”

“Really? Why didn’t they tell us before? Is it about the team?”

“He wouldn’t give me any details, but he was very specific on both us needing to be there.”

Dick lets out a groan, then leans his head against Conner´s shoulder. “I don´t really want to go to a meeting. My feet are tired, I don´t even want to go down to the Zeta-tube.”

“We can go and stay for literally ten minutes,” Conner suggests. “And I´ll give your feet a good rub and some hot cocoa when we get back.” It wouldn’t be the first time Conner does stuff like that, and he usually does it because sweet foods or drinks plus a foot massage seemed to become Dick´s favorite things after the sixth month of the pregnancy.

Dick hums, then raises his face and narrows his eyes at him. “Add carrying me down to the Zeta-tube and you got a deal.”

Conner tries not to roll his eyes. “Fine,” he says, and as soon as Dick wraps his arms around his neck, Conner picks him up and leans in to press their foreheads together. “All right, we have a deal.”

 

* * *

 

 

Of all the things Dick expects to wait for them at the Watchtower, a surprise party is not one of them. He´s set to play the serious and unaffected leader he´s always been despite the news of their twins coming soon still buzzing in his head, which is why when he and Conner step through the Zeta-tube and enter the Watchtower, the confetti raining around them makes him jump.

Conner goes still next to him, takes on a defensive stance and Dick knows it´s because his scent has spiked, which it rarely does. He reaches out and grabs Conner´s hand as he lets out a growl, and when more confetti drops around them, Dick digs his finger into Conner´s arm and faces forward.

He laughs as soon as he sees the core members of the Justice League looking at Conner in utter surprise while most of them hold either paper cups or more confetti.

Conner relaxes next to him after taking in their surroundings and gives them all a rather dismayed glare. “Of all the people in the world… you lot should be the ones who know better than to surprise someone like this,” he mutters. There´s an embarrassed silence as soon as Conner speaks, at least for the first five seconds, after that, Hal and Barry´s laughs ring out, and more confetti rains down on them. Dinah and Diana are moving forward soon after, enveloping Dick in a warm and tight hug and laughing as they apologize for all the ruckus. Ollie and Arthur are next, followed by, much to Dick´s surprise, Martian Manhunter and Red Tornado. Soon Dick is lost among League members hugging him and murmuring about how great he looks, and how big his belly is, all while Conner stands to one side and tries really hard not to kick everyone away. Fortunately, Bruce and Clark come out last and instead of going towards Dick, they take Conner away, which gives Dick enough breathing room to hug everyone back and answer every and all of the questions the League throws at him. Turns out that aside from Bruce and Clark nobody knew he was carrying twins, which brings on yet another rain of confetti and tighter hugs, even more worried questions. Dick appreciates the attention and the interest, but after a while it starts getting overwhelming, and his feet are still killing him.

Dinah is the one who speaks when she sees him shift his weight from one foot to the other. “All right, all right, time to pull back, Dick is shaking a bit, let´s give him some space. Ollie, bring a chair. Can someone get him some juice?”

“Cold water would be better,” Dick murmurs.

“Cold water. Hal, you´re not doing anything but eating, get this young man his water. All right, here´s the chair.”

Dick smiles his gratitude at her and takes the chair, plops down and lets out a sigh. Much better.  He places his hands in his belly and looks up at the League members arranged in a circle around him. His lips twitch. “First of all, let me thank you for this big and amazing surprise, I honestly wasn´t expecting it. Second… what is this exactly?”

“Clark didn’t spill the beans to Conner?” Dinah asks amused.

“I don´t think so, all Conner would say was that we had a meeting and we both needed to be here. If Clark had told him about the party he wouldn’t have been so calm.”

“I´m surprised Clark even managed to hold back the surprise party part,” Hal says as he returns with Dick´s water. Dick takes it gratefully, chuckles, gives them a curious glance.

“So what´s all this about?”

The League members look at each other, then more laughs ring out. “It is the shower of the baby,” Diana announces proudly. “You are the first member of the Justice League to bear a child, man or woman, and you are also Bruce´s first son, you will be giving him grandchildren. Clark mentioned the idea one day, and we all decided we would celebrate this marvelous even with the showering of the baby, or babies in this case.”

Dick chuckles once more. “But I´m not a member of the Justice League,” he reminds them.

“You, Conner and M´gann are all but members now,” Barry says rolling his eyes. “You guys have been for years now, but yeah, you´re pretty special. I mean, Iris and I have our baby, but she´s not part of the League and… well, you are Bruce´s son and we all watched you grow up around here and on the Earth and now instead of being a kid yourself, you´ll have your own kids and…”

“We wanted to be cheesy and dumb and celebrate with you,” Hal concludes. “Even if we´re too late. How far along are you?”

“Eight months, give or take a day.”

“Do you have a due date?” Dinah asks.

“The doctor told me they´d be coming any day three weeks from now on, so you know, that´s as specific a due date as he could give me.”

“You really are on the last part of this pregnancy, huh?”

Dick nods.

“What has it been like?”

And at that, Dick can´t help but laugh. What has it been like? Dick´s not sure there are enough words to express what his pregnancy has been like, or that he can express every single feeling accordingly. He´s had his ups and downs, fortunately more ups thanks to Conner, his family and his friends, but it sure has been quite a mixed ride.

“What has it been like?” Dick mumbles. He sighs, then smiles. “It´s been a doozy.”

And that may be the understatement of the century, and he knows Dinah knows, but he appreciates her skeptical look and the fact she doesn´t try to contradict him.

“A doozy,” she repeats. “And I´m assuming it being a doozy means you want to sit down for a bit before we start the not so girly games?”

This time, Dick grins. “No, I´m good, just let me watch you guys play instead of playing myself, that´ll be fun.” He tries to give her wide and innocent eyes, but she knows better, and only raises both eyebrows, then turns around and claps her hands.

“All right everybody, gather round. We´ll do gifts first, and we´ll start the silly games when Dick can join us. He doesn´t want to miss out on the fun.”

Dick scoffs, then laughs, then groans as Dinah glares, but he does move his chair off to one side when he sees Diana approaching with three huge boxes she can only carry because she has superhuman strength.

 

* * *

 

 

There´s something off about Bruce. Conner can´t quite pinpoint what it is, but he knows something is wrong, he knows that something is… bothering Bruce.

He glances over to where Clark has joined Dick and the rest of the League with the huge gifts he brought himself, then glances back at Bruce, takes a sip of his apple juice. “Clark picked the drinks?” he asks, staring at his red paper cup.

Bruce´s eyes flick to him for a second, then away. “What gave you a clue?”

Conner still isn’t very good at figuring out rhetorical questions from real ones, so he decides to answer anyway. “No alcohol at all, barely sodas, lots of juices and safe stuff for a pregnant omega to drink and that brings no temptation to anyone else. Seems like a safe space, and given his excitement about this whole thing…” He shrugs.

Bruce´s lips almost twitch. He hides it with a cough soon enough though, goes back to frowning. “Why don’t you join them for the opening of gifts? They all look very excited, and your scent would be less bothersome if you were closer to him and knew he was safer.”

And that´s… that´s interesting. In the nine years Conner has known Bruce Wayne, the man has never, ever said something about his scent, or anyone´s for that matter. Sure, it´s not like the two of them have ever had a special bonding moment, or any moment at all, but Conner is darn sure Bruce has never made any such comment before. He´s too… professional and… polite to tell anyone, even Clark or Dick, that they didn’t smell so good.

“Right,” Conner says. “I should go join Dick soon. Will you come too?”

“These type of parties aren’t really my thing, as you well know. I think I will just stay here and watch as you all enjoy yourselves.”

“You are such a boring old man,” Hal says, approaching them all of a sudden and inviting himself to the chair Clark had vacated moments earlier. Hal stretches his arms out over the back of the chair, and Conner catches the light downturn of Bruce´s lips. Now, that could easily be attributed to the fact everyone knows Hal isn´t Bruce´s favorite League member, but after the previous comment, Conner doesn´t think it´s Hal´s mere presence that bothers Bruce.

Curiosity gets the better of him, and he has taken a deep breath, plans to inhale Bruce´s scent, but before he can focus enough on Bruce, Hal speaks.

“And you are turning out to be a boring old man too, little Kent. You really shouldn´t take after your father-in-law, you´ll end up grumpy and emotionally constipated the rest of your life. Which, considering who your husband and kids are, might turn out to be a problem somewhere down the road.”

And _that_ catches Conner full attention.

“Husband?” he says, and given Bruce´s stiff posture, he´s not the only one who´s surprised.

“Well, if I were that young and already married and with kids literally a few weeks away, I´d be surprised too. How old are you, anyway? Dick is… what, old man, twenty-one? Twenty-two? You can´t be that much older, little Kent, and you´d still be real young,” Hal says. “I mean, even among mated pairs, it´s not very common to get married in your early twenties. You and Dick sure are going intense, huh? Hey, Bruce, why didn’t you invite us to the ceremony?”

Bruce turns his head one inch at the time, then gives Hal a look. “They are not married,” he mutters.

“Oh come now, you can´t be that much in denial…”

“We´re not married,” Conner interrupts, and Hal turns to him, mouth open.

“You´re not?”

Bruce sighs. “Hal…”

“Yet,” Conner says.

Both men turn to look at him. Bruce frowns. Hal looks confused. “Yet?” he asks.

Conner nods. “We´re not married, Dick and I. Not yet.”

“What do you mean not yet?” Bruce demands. “Young man, if this idiot just put a silly idea in your head…”

“Hey! Since when is marriage a silly idea? I mean! Yeah, it´s crazy and you regret it sometimes but look at Barry and Iris, look at Carol and me. It sucks a third of the time, but marriage is also the best decision I´ve made in my life!” Hal protests.

Bruce ignores him, keeps his attention on Conner. “You are already mated, you and Dick have already bonded, you are as good as married.”

Conner frowns. He stays quiet for a second, then frowns harder. “We are mates, but we are not husbands. I understand the bond between mates is stronger, but would calling him my husband instead of my mate be a bad thing?”

“No,” Hal says.

“Yes,” Bruce mutters, but it seems to be out of pure instinct because as soon as he says it he closes his eyes and rubs the bridge of his nose. “Uh. No, that is not what I wanted to say.”

“Then what did you mean to say?” Hal asks, and leans in closer to Bruce.

Bruce opens his mouth, closes it, then frowns. Conner sees the downturn of his lips again, and when Bruce gets to his feet rather quickly and turning his face away from Hal with a cough, Conner gets all the answer he needs.

“If you are to marry my son, you will do it accordingly, I will not accept you running off to Vegas with my grandchildren one day and letting Elvis pronounce you husband and husband, do you hear me, young man? No rushed weddings. Dick deserves a beautiful proposal and even more beautiful wedding,” Bruce calls out as he walks away from them and disappears down the hall, probably heading off to his private quarters in the Watchtower.

Conner watches the now closed doors, turns his head when Hal´s chair screeches, and suddenly Conner can pick up on Hal´s heavy and musky scent. It doesn´t bother him, Hal smells like another alpha, but not a threat, and the smell isn´t the least bit overwhelming, which just makes Conner´s recent conclusion even more possible.

“So we´ll have a wedding soon?” Hal asks in a confidential whisper, looking both curious and amused.

Conner blinks, stays quiet for a while, enough for Hal to look bored and a bit ashamed. “Hey, buddy, look, sorry if what I said bothered you as much as it bothered Bruce…” he begins, but Conner shakes his head, gives Hal a smile.

“I want to be a good father and a good mate,” he informs Hal. “And I knew something didn’t ring quite right with that. I want to be a good husband too. I… I want Dick to know that we´ll always be together, that he and our babies will always be… my top priority and…” He feels himself starting to blush, feels himself starting to get angry too, but he knows that’s his embarrassment, so he tries to squish it down. “Dick and I are a team, have been for years and always will be. I want him to know that.”

Hal looks surprised for a few heartbeats, then a slow grin spreads across his face, and he places a hand on Conner´s shoulder, squeezes gently.

“Don´t tell anyone,” he whispers. “I have a reputation to uphold, but married life really is great, little Kent, with all its ups and downs. Being bonded is basically like being married, but wearing your ring, people seeing your ring, knowing that you completely and utterly belong to and with someone, that that someone belongs with you legally…” Hal´s grin widens even more. “Best feeling in the world.”

Now, Conner hasn’t interacted much with many members of the League for something other than business, less of all with Hal, and Conner knows Hal isn’t the best person to get advice from or hold a sentimental conversation with, but at this moment… Hal doesn’t seem like that bad a guy.

“Well, I think Bruce already gave us his blessing, so that´s a good thing, I guess” Conner mumbles.

Hal cackles. “He totally did, I heard him! And are you kidding? That´s great, it means the two of you will have the wedding of the century, I don’t think the old man will stand for a small ceremony with just a lawyer, not for Dick.”

“Dick wouldn´t like that either,” Conner says with a smile, and he can already imagine what Dick _would_ like, and it´s not a small wedding, or proposal for that matter. He isn’t a big fan of big or public events himself, but for Dick, he´ll do literally anything.

“I think I need to start working on some things,” he says.

 

* * *

 

 

Conner comes and joins him when they´re halfway into playing the silly games Dinah and Clark have prepared. They´re quite different from what Dick knows for a fact people do at regular baby showers, but they´re still silly, and they´re still amusing when he´s not participating in them. Now, Dick is not a fan of pulling the ‘pregnant and tired and fragile’ omega card, he hasn’t done it even once to date – well, except with Conner a couple of times, but that´s different, Dick likes being cuddled back to full strength by the man he loves, sue him – but today he really is tired, and when he faces Dinah with big, wide and innocent eyes and says he´d rather not participate in the games, no one tries to convince him or force him into anything.

He´s sitting on a chair watching Clark and Diana wrap up Red and J´onn in bright yellow washi tape to see who finishes first when Conner pulls up another chair and sits next to him. The fresh scent of forest invades Dick´s nostrils right away, and he relaxes almost automatically, leans in closer to lay his head against Conner´s shoulder, lets out a happy sigh when Conner slings his arm across his shoulders.

“Having fun?” Conner asks, pressing his lips to his hair.

“Yes and no,” Dick replies, closing his eyes. “I mean, I need to take pictures of this and give them over to Tim, but I´m so tired, I really want to curl up in bed with your jacket and sleep a bit.”

Conner hesitates, shifts in his seat, but he doesn’t say anything, at least at first. After a couple of seconds, he clears his throat. “I know I said that as soon as you wanted to go home we would, but…”

Dick raises his head and looks at him curiously. “What´s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Conner replies right away, the frowns. “Nothing… I don´t think it´s wrong per se.”

Dick blinks at him.

Conner purses his lips. “I think… look. Bruce left like ten minutes ago. He didn’t seem to be all right. I think… I think you need to talk to him.”

Dick blinks at him again. “Why do I get the impression you know exactly what´s wrong?”

Conner glances around him, his gaze settles on Clark, then skids back to Dick. “I´m not sure, but I think I know, and I also know that if he has to forcefully tell anyone, that someone is you. I might be wrong…”

“You´re rarely wrong,” Dick mumbles, presses his lips to Conner´s cheek before getting to his feet with a heavy sigh.

“I want Chinese food from that restaurant on the other side of Bludhaven to go with my cocoa,” Dick threatens as he heads for the door. Conner raises an eyebrow, then smiles and gives him a thumbs up.

Dick is laughing by the time he slips out the door and into the hall. It´s been a while since he´s visited the private quarters of the League members, not since his Robin days, and even then he´d only done it twice. Once without Bruce´s authorization.

Dick gets to the door with Batman´s name on it, and of course, it´s password protected. Dick is glad Bruce has at least taken the retina scan off his wall.

He stands out there for a bit and wonders which numbers he should punch in. He decides to press the numbers Bruce had taught him several years ago. Much to his surprise, they still work, and the door swooshes open, he suddenly comes face to face with the very big and elegant room, and with the _very_ familiar sounds of someone throwing up.

He tenses, and is crossing the room and throwing the bathroom door open before he realizes what he´s doing. He can´t even take a step inside Bruce is right there, bent over the toilet, spilling his guts out.

Sympathy hits Dick probably harder than nausea has hit Bruce, and he goes to look under the sink and pulls out a towel. He runs it under the faucet and very slowly, very carefully, ends up sitting next to Bruce and places his hand on the other man´s shoulder, lays the towel on Bruce´s neck. Bruce has been tense since he stepped inside, but now he´s even stiffer, and his eyes are shut way too tight.

Dick sighs, starts rubbing his own belly and Bruce´s shoulder in small circles. When Bruce is done heaving, Dick flushes the toilet and stays right there, watches as Bruce hangs his head and curses under his breath before he sighs and raises watery eyes to Dick.

“So how are we going to do this?” Dick asks. “How about I give you once chance, just one, for you to tell me a lie and we´ll see if I believe it. If I find it real and reasonable enough, I´ll leave this alone. If not, you´ll tell me how many weeks pregnant you are.”

Bruce´s eyes fly open, his lips twitch, and Dick can see his immediate need to recoil, deny, put up a wall. If Dick had had any doubts before and he´d been fishing when he´d asked him how far along was he, now those doubts are gone, but he´ll still try and give Bruce a chance to dig his way out.

“Well?” Dick prompts.

Bruce stays silent for a moment, gasps for breath and tries to keep his face neutral. After a few heartbeats he clears his throat. “Hal was sitting next to me. I caught a whiff of his scent. I still don’t understand how on earth can Carol stand that smell for more than a second,” he says.

Dick stares. Then he keeps staring. He stares some more. When Bruce gives a small shrug, Dick starts laughing and doesn’t stop until his chest hurts and his body is shaking.

When he finally gets his breath back, Dick wipes the tears off his face. “That was a good one. A pretty darn good one. Had Conner not noticed anything, I would have believed you. You almost got me,” Dick admits, then gives one last chuckle. “Okay, now that we´re over that, how far along are you and why doesn’t Clark know?”

“How did _Conner_ know?”

Dick shrugs. “He´s much more observant than what people give him credit for. He didn’t say anything about smell though, so I´m guessing you´re on some sort of suppressants?”

Bruce looks away. He gives a curt nod.  

Dick waits for more. When it doesn’t come, he repeats his previous questions. “How far along are you? Why doesn´t Clark know?” He tries to answer his own questions, but apart from the obvious ‘Bruce hates confiding in anyone and can´t differentiate one feeling from another so this leads to severe emotional constipation’ he can´t come up with anything.

Fortunately, and much to his amazement, when Bruce does speak, what he says… makes sense. It´s… nice, even.

“I´m not sure how to tell him,” Bruce says while he rubs his palm over his face. “I went to the doctor a week ago. I´m five weeks along. I… I´ve tried to tell him, but I can´t, and I don´t want him to smell me and notice…. Not until I tell him. Personally. Directly. Face to face.”

Dick tilts his head to one side. “You´re not afraid of his reaction, are you? I mean… it´s Clark, he´ll probably somersault all the way to the moon, or the sun and scream so loud even the people in Oa will hear him,” he says.

Bruce frowns. Dick wishes he had laughed instead. He sighs, opens his mouth to apologize, but Bruce speaks first.

“Only to Oa? Then it is not as bad as I had imagined it would be.” He looks serious, he´s frowning, and Dick knows he´s talking business, but Dick can´t help but laugh.

“You don’t have to make a big deal out of it,” he says. “If you want to make it special – which I think you do but you don’t want to admit it – you can just ask him over for dinner at the manor one night, have Alfred prepare a nice homey menu and you can break the news during dessert as if you were proposing.”

Bruce looks offended. “Dick, this is not a joking matter.”

“I´m not joking! I mean, I´d suggest one of those silly things where people hand over cards with the bun and then the oven but that´d be too much even for me.”

“Dick, if you´re not going to be helpful…”

“Hey, I´m trying! You´re the one being snobby and difficult.”

“I am not…”

“Yes you are, but try not to be and let me help you figure this out. Do it simple and quiet, just ask him for dinner, like I said, and tell him. It doesn’t have to be at the manor. You can rent out a restaurant for one night, or you can visit the little farm he bought, or have the food delivered to his apartment. I don’t know, Bruce, just find somewhere quiet and meaningful and tell him you´re pregnant. I know it sounds hard, but you´ve both wanted this baby for months now, right? Clark has been yearning for a child of his own for an even longer time, and I know you´re scared and excited for this. Don´t ruin it, take it easy, keep it subtle and tell him.”

Bruce´s frown deepens more than ever and he glares at Dick for a solid couple of minutes, then turns his head away and sighs.

“I suppose I could do it before or after Martha´s little party. We´ll be there for two days at the very least,” he mutters.

Dick grins. “Exactly. See? Not a problem… wait, what? Martha is throwing a party? Martha Kent? …What do you mean ‘we’?”

 

* * *

 

 

“When do we leave?”

“I don’t have the exact date right now, but it will be next week, maybe Thursday? Otherwise, by the time we get there, the babies will be born already and Ma wants to see the pregnancy as well as the babies themselves.”

Dick lets out a hum, then a soft groan as Conner digs his thumb into the sole of one of his feet, then the other, then switches back to the first foot and massages his toes. “Remember to bring the camera with us, I´m sure she´ll want to see everything we have in it.”

Conner nods, keeps massaging Dick´s feet, glances at his mate out of the corner of his eye. After getting home and informing him that Bruce was indeed pregnant, Dick had decided he was too tired for food or drinks and that he just wanted to sleep, though that he still wanted that feet rub. Half an hour later and after grabbing Conner´s biggest sweater, putting it on and lying down on the couch, Dick is hugging the sweater tight to himself and falling asleep as he lets out soft sounds of pure relief at what Conner´s fingers are doing.

“Thanks for telling me about Bruce,” Dick mumbles with a yawn. “He so needed to talk to someone.”

Conner gives a small shrug. “I knew if he´d talk to anyone, he´d talk to you.”

“He thought you´d already told me about the trip to Ma´s farm. Why hadn´t you?”

“There hadn´t been time. When you came home I wasn’t here, when I came home we had to leave for the Watchtower right away. It´s not like I wanted to keep that a secret,” Conner says with another shrug.

Dick blinks at him, the gives a soft laugh. “Well, is there anything else you´d like to keep a secret from me, while we´re at it?” he asks amused.

Conner thinks back to his conversation with Hal. He also thinks about what Bruce had said before he´d left. He thinks of all the ideas that have been swirling inside his head since that afternoon. He thinks about the jewelry store addresses Barry gave him when he wandered over and Hal told him about Conner´s new resolution. He also thinks of Diana´s look of pure joy when she too walked over to their little group and demanded to be included in their little ruse. As it was, it looked like Conner already had a wedding planner.

He just needs to think of the right way to propose first. Maybe talking to Ma about it will help him a bit more with that.

“Not really,” he says, and maybe he´s lying… but it´s not a… black lie? Other lies are white, he´ll call this one a not black one.

Dick gives him a curious glance, then throws his head back and laughs.

“Right,” he says. “I guess you´ll tell me when you´re ready then?”

Conner thinks about that for a little while. He decides he doesn’t want to tell another not black lie. “Of course I will,” he promises. “I´ll tell you pretty soon, you´ll see.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> As per usual, my deepest apologies for any grammar or spelling mistake. I did revise it but uggghhh somehow a thousand mistakes still make it LOL
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! And please let´s just keep on loving Superwing :3 <3


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